Mass Shootings
As Police Chief, what I’m going to say may sound controversial
but here it goes:
1.
I don’t like the idea of criminals and the mentally
ill having guns, but knowing that the police response will take minutes when
seconds count, I do like the idea of responsible citizens having guns – people like
school principals.
2.
Where you stand philosophically on the 2nd
amendment doesn’t change the reality that there are already millions of guns in
America. If there is an effective way to
keep guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill, I’m all for
it. But the belief that we’ll reduce
violence by keeping guns from the general public seems naïve and even counterproductive.
Okay, now for the controversial part:
The whole gun control argument seems to be missing the
point. As a society, we’re reaping what
we’ve sown. Our moral compass is spinning.
We seem to want personal freedom without the corresponding
personal responsibility. We want to
enjoy now and pay later, over-eat but not gain weight, have random sex but still
experience true love, cheat in school but have a successful career, feed our children
violent movies and expect no bullying, abdicate parenting to mindless video
games and expect our children to be socially healthy. Then when things go wrong, we hack at the
leaves of outward behavior rather than go to the root of the problem – societal
moral decay.
Right and wrong really are absolute. While the application of morality can be
challenging the underlying principles are not.
We should teach that and in my view, the fix is in the family. Children are best taught right and wrong by a
loving father and mother. When that
ideal cannot be met, extended family, and the community can help.
We should start with ourselves by striving to live a life of
honesty, service, and love. We should
then accept responsibility for teaching these principles to our children and
extended family. Finally, we should reach
out to our community, country, and the world as we can.
Immoral behavior can be contagious, but so can virtuous
behavior.
In the meantime, as police officers we'll continue to work closely with the schools to make them as safe as we possibly can.
In the meantime, as police officers we'll continue to work closely with the schools to make them as safe as we possibly can.